Outdoor Education in Japan

COUNTRY PROFILE
- JAPAN

Japan ("Land of the rising sun") is an industrialized Asian country. Japan's geography is rather
unique -- it is not on the Asia mainland, but consists of several volcanic
islands. In total land mass, it is smaller than most states of the
USA, but has high population density (about 20 times high than the USA).

Since Japan's defeat in World War II it has reconstructed its economy,
incredibly, to have recently for the first time to have outstripped even the
USA Gross Domestic Product.

Along
with this rapid economic success have come many of the typical problems
being experienced in Western societies, such as increases in youth problems
and the health consequences of an increasingly sedentary society. But
Japan also has several thousand years of human culture and history (see
Timeline of Japanese
History and
Overview of Japanese History), and thus has some unique focuses in
approaching such problems the problems of post-industrial society. For
example:

Government structure
in decision making (e.g., determining school curricula) is more prominent
than in Western countries.

Japanese culture has a long history of
relationship with nature and understandings of nature, which are more
Eastern than Western.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE OUTDOORS IN JAPAN - by
Cathy Bernatt, a Canadian adventure educator from Canada who has lived
and worked in Japan for over 10 years:

I think that from an outdoors perspective Japan is a magnificent country;
it's really beautiful. I've been all over and I guess I have different
favorite places at different times of the year. In the fall, for example,
hiking in Shiraumedake, in the northern part of the Northern Alps, is
amazing. You walk along this very narrow path and there's a sheer cliff on
one side and nothing over the edge on the other side. Below you is the
Kurobe Dam which is a turquoise color and at peak weekend, when the fall
colors are at their best, every step is more beautiful than the one before.
It's one of my favorite hikes anywhere in the world.

I think the worst thing about living here is the lack of environmental
consciousness or care that people have for their country. When I first came
here, I'd go hiking in the mountains and no matter how high I was there'd be
garbage everywhere. I couldn't believe it. I know that it's not just in
Japan that this happens, but there doesn't seem to be any awareness about it
here. It makes me very angry and upset.

Outdoor education philosophy in Japan tends to have a more
environmental nature, and environmental education is more developed than
adventure education.

The Japanese Outdoor Education
Society was formed in the 1990's and now has several hundred members. The
society produces a national journal and has an active membership who are
involved in meetings and professional training workshops.

In 2001, a government-supported
symposium on outdoor education was held, with speakers invited from Europe
(Werner Michl), America (Chris Cashel) and Australia (James Neill) to offer
perspectives on how outdoor education was being implemented for youth.

The "father" of outdoor education in
Japan is arguably Dr. Minoru Iida, who did a PhD on experiential and outdoor
education in the USA (at Penn State) in the 1970's, under Dr. Betty van der
Smissen. Dr. Iida's (1975) article is still
considered one of the major literature reviews in the field of outdoor
education.

Using Experience
Sampling Method to Understand Environment for Reflective Learning (Taito
Okamura, University of Education, Japan, Paper to be presented to the 7th
Research Symposium, Coalition for Education in the Outdoors, Bradford Woods,
IN, January, 2004)